Publication Ethics

In order to publish the research in this Publication  all the author(s) must follow principals for ethical professional practices. 

Authors must confirm and guarantee that their submitted paper adheres to all established submission criteria.

"Futurity Education" follows the Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice based on COPE's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors to ensure ethics and quality in publication.  It is expected of authors, reviewers, and editors that they follow the best-practice guidelines on ethical behaviour contained therein. In addition, some key points are listed below.

Plagiarism policy:

The publisher and journals have a zero-tolerance plagiarism policy. The issue is checked via two methods: a plagiarism prevention tool (Turnitin) and a reviewer check. All submissions are checked by Turnitin before being sent to reviewers.

The journal emphasises strict adherence to academic integrity and the avoidance of self-plagiarism. The self-plagiarism is a plagiarism because it does not contribute to research and science.

Futurity education maintains an anti-plagiarism policy that aims to guarantee that all evaluated and published works being previously verified.

 Each manuscript is subjected to similarity verification through Turnitin Similary Check software to guarantee the originality of all manuscripts. This anti-plagiarism policy ensures a compliance with high standards of originality in the published articles.

All details about plagiarism policy you can read here: Plagiarism policy

AI using Policy

This policy applies only to the writing process and does not extend to the use of AI tools for data analysis or drawing conclusions during the research process.
• AI can only be used to improve the language and clarity of the text.
• Authors must oversee AI usage, review, and edit the results, as AI can make mistakes or show bias. Responsibility for the content lies entirely with the authors.
• AI cannot be listed as an author or co-author, as authorship is reserved for humans only.

Transparency

Authors utilising AI techniques should provide a clear description of the AI methods, algorithms, and models used in their research, ensuring transparency and reproducibility.

Data Source and Quality

Authors must clearly specify the sources of data used in their AI research, ensuring that the data are reliable, representative, and appropriately collected, adhering to privacy regulations and protection of personal information.

Ethical Considerations

 Authors must address the ethical implications of using AI in their research, including considerations related to bias, fairness, accountability, and potential social or cultural impact.

Validation and Evaluation

Authors must provide appropriate validation and evaluation of their AI models, including performance metrics, comparisons with existing approaches, and potential limitations or weaknesses.

Clarity and explainability

Authors should attempt making their AI models interpretable and explainable, providing insights into how the AI system arrives at its conclusions or predictions, particularly in cases where the decisions may have significant consequences for patients or healthcare outcome.

Ethical Review

Authors must seek ethical review or approval for AI research involving human subjects, as per institutional or national guidelines, particularly if the research involves sensitive or personal data.

Authorship

Authors must meet the criteria for the authorship, as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and must accurately list all co-authors which have made significant contributions to the study.

Author is someone, who:

  • Contributed significantly to the conception or design of the study; or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
  • Drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; Provided final approval of the version to be published;
  • Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Data Integrity and Fabrication:

Authors must accurately state the results of the authors' research that should not contain data fabrications, falsifications or manipulations. Any potential errors or inaccuracies must be immediately corrected or refuted.

Informed Consent:

To uphold adherence to applicable laws and protocols, obtaining requisite consents and permissions from participants is imperative for the acquisition and utilization of personal data. Signed consent forms should refrain from being submitted to the journal due to potential inclusion of sensitive participant information. Instead, authors ought to furnish a declaration affirming the acquisition of informed consents from participants. Furthermore, pertinent documents and evidences are retained for presentation upon request from legal authorities

Research on live subjects

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the submission adheres to WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Authors must seek and record established ethics committee approvals, participant consents, and other documents necessary for the research in case if live subjects are involved.

For non-interventional studies (e.g. surveys, questionnaires, social media research), all participants must be fully informed if the anonymity is assured, why the research is being conducted, how their data will be used and if there are any risks associated.

Funding

Authors must supply all funding details, including grant numbers. Funding sources or sponsors can be individuals, businesses, or public entities like universities or research councils. If these funders or sponsors have any involvement, no matter how minor, in the design or execution of the research, this must be clearly detailed. This information should be added if available.

Vulnerable Groups and Individuals

Enhanced attention is warranted for groups or individuals who may lack the capacity to foresee, cope with, or rebound from the impacts of study participation. There exists a possibility that they did not fully comprehend the study's nature to provide informed consent and thus were susceptible to coercion. Engagement of these groups and individuals in the study should only occur if their participation is indispensable for research conduct, and the study's outcomes prove advantageous to them.

Citation

Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their own work.

Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.

Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.

Confidentiality

This journal utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process. Therefore, all authors are requested to maintain strict confidentiality and refrain from disclosing the identities of authors and/or reviewers.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to notify the journal editor or publisher promptly and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Post-publication corrections and retractions

Although every article undergoes multiple checks during the prepublication process, published articles may still contain errors. When such errors are identified, regardless of their origin, a correction notice is issued detailing the amendments made to the original publication. In cases where significant errors undermine the study's findings and conclusions, the original article may be retracted. The journal reserves the right to retract work if serious misconduct, such as plagiarism, is confirmed. In these situations, in line with ethical standards and appropriate COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/), the journal will take necessary actions without hesitation.

Discrimination policy

Researchers deserve to be treated with fairness, sensitivity, and dignity, and should be respected and free from prejudice, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, cultural identity, partnership status, religion, faith, disability, health conditions, political beliefs, socio-economic status, or any other notable differences.

 

Roles and responsibilities

1. Author's responsibilities

Authors confirm the originality and exclusivity of their study by submitting their work to the journal for publication. They must ensure that their study has not been published elsewhere and is not currently being reviewed by another journal. If any part of the manuscript or its supporting data has been previously published or presented, the editors should be informed during submission. The submission should adhere to the journal's ethical guidelines. Authors are expected to disclose any potential conflicts of interest openly and honestly. Research involving human subjects should be conducted in accordance with institutional, national, and international regulations, and appropriate ethical approval documents and participant consents should be obtained. Proper referencing of all sources is necessary. Authors should clearly state any funding information and acknowledge contributions from non-authors. If significant errors or inconsistencies are discovered in a submitted manuscript or a published article, the editor should be promptly notified.

2. Responsibility for the reviewers

Any researcher who has been invited to review the manuscript should notify the editor in case they are not able to evaluate the submission or have a competing interest. All data concerning the manuscript must be treated as privileged information and kept private. Reviews must be conducted fairly and within a reasonable timeframe. Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is unsuitable. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Ethical responsibilities of reviewers

Peer reviewers are essential in upholding the highest ethical standards for manuscripts submitted to Futurity Education. Their ethical responsibilities include:

Subject Expertise: Reviewers should accept manuscripts only within their area of expertise, ensuring a timely and thorough evaluation.

Confidentiality: Reviewers must keep the peer review process confidential, not disclosing any details of the manuscript or its review, both during and after the process.

Conflict of Interest: If a conflict of interest exists, such as a personal or professional connection with the author that might bias the review, reviewers should return the manuscript, clearly indicating the conflict.

Professionalism: Reviewers must provide accurate personal and professional information reflecting their expertise and avoid impersonation during the review process.

Plagiarism and Falsification: Any allegations of plagiarism, authorship issues, or data falsification should be supported by reasoned explanations and relevant references.

Timeliness: Reviewers should complete their reviews promptly, respecting the author's work.

3. Editorial responsibilities

Editors of scientific disciplines are carefully chosen from outstanding researchers. They oversee the management of incoming manuscripts and seek input from external reviewers to evaluate articles thoroughly. Editors then use these review reports, along with their own unbiased judgement, to decide whether an article should be accepted for publication. Throughout the editorial processes, editors are expected to treat all authors and manuscripts equally and maintain strict confidentiality. If there is a competing interest, the editor must inform the managing editor to be relieved of responsibility for the work. In case of malpractice, editors must take necessary actions and consequences. Any errors found in published articles should be corrected through appropriate correction or retraction notices. To ensure objectivity and transparency, articles submitted by editorial board members are assessed by a different editor.

Ethical responsibilities of editors

Editors of the Futurity Education journal are responsible for maintaining the highest ethical standards throughout the publication process. Their ethical responsibilities include:

Confidentiality: Editors must protect the confidentiality of the peer-review process and avoid disclosing any manuscript details without the author's consent.

Conflict of Interest: Editors should require peer reviewers to disclose any potential conflicts of interest and consider this information carefully.

Citations: Editors should request authors to add citations only when there is a solid scholarly reason.

Reviewer Selection: Editors may ask authors for suggestions of potential peer reviewers or request exclusions of certain individuals from reviewing their paper.

Quality Control: Editors should oversee the performance of peer reviewers, avoiding those who provide substandard, delayed, abusive, or non-constructive reviews.

4. Publisher responsibilities

The publisher provides the journal with the required resources, such as submission and publication portal, plagiarism checking tools, DOI identifiers, hosting, and content preservation. The publisher must take reasonable steps in order to protect the editorial autonomy.